She asserted that if the women of the world were to take over:
- The world would become even more competitive and hierarchical.
- The world would become even more image driven.
- There would be less focus on substance, and less direction.
With all due respect to your friend, Telexx, I fail to see either why or even how the world would become more "competitive and hierarchical", more "image-driven", less focused on substance" and with "less direction" in a world not dominated by men.
Just saying so means nothing, less than nothing actually, as it contradicts the fact that men generally exhibit so much more competitive, agressive behaviour, are more prone to engage in or encourage violence, to sexualize violence, and to consider militarism to be the ultimate expression of manliness.
The history of the world as we know it, is the history of war. Wars have determined which civilisations survived and which were exterminated, they've drawn our national boundaries, decided our religions, shaped our knowledge of the past, made some groups masters and others slaves. Even the food we eat is greatly determined by wars, as is the clothing we wear. Wars have shaped our technology, decided how our resources are allocated, how we view others, and which qualities we respect in our leaders. They've even shaped our ideals of beauty, the languages with which we express ourselves.
The history of war, as any historian will tell you, is the history of men, with women relegated to the shadows, anonymous and silent, except in the very rare occasions when they intrude into the male sphere of dominance. At a price.
Queen Hatshepsut wore a man's beard attached to her chin as a symbol of her worthiness to rule Egypt; Queen Elizabeth I never married nor bore children in order to preserve her power. Cleopatra, on the contrary, known as a multi-lingual philosopher, one of the greatest intellects of her time, had herself wrapped in a carpet and delivered to Caesar, reinventing herself as a sex kitten in her quest for power and to rescue Egypt's then-fading glory. In the end, the fame she achieved, her place in history, was not for her brilliance, nor her great patriotism, but for her relations with two great men: Caesar and Mark Anthony.
Even today, the higher a woman's position, the less likely she is to have the basic benefits of a family enjoyed by most of the world's women and men, for that matter. Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect that it's far more difficult for a woman to have both a "high-powered" career and healthy family life, than for men. Is it a coincidence that the two most powerful women in the past two US administrations have not? Madeline Albright never bore children, nor has Condaleezza Rice.
When Hillary Clinton, in order to help her husband look like presidential material, felt the need to reassure voters that she had no political ambitions of her own, she had to pretend to love baking cookies.
Now that she is openly seeking the presidency, her views have become as male-oriented and militaristic and corrupt as those of any other candidate who becomes a contender. If they didn't, she would probably still be baking those cookies, or working anonymously in some law firm.
Warriors make the system, write the rules, and women who don't want to stay in the shadows then must conform to those essentially male structures by becoming she-men, or attaching themselves to he-men.
All I'm saying, is that maybe there's still time to try something different, because the way we're going now, we all lose, big time.
That way is removing war/violence from the equation, something that women have FAR more practical experience with, and are FAR better equipped for, since war/violence have not historically been things they have sought or benefitted from. On the contrary, women, especially mothers and their children, are the primary victims of war and violence.
More importantly, it is women who have borne most of the burden of making and nurturing new life even in the face of death and destruction, mostly perpetrated by men. Is it such a stretch to consider that perspectives, strengths, and approaches to problem-solving associated with women therefore represent a genuine, life-affirming, untapped treasure?